Prosthesis History by Kegan Brauning
Earliest documented uses of prosthesis date back to 3500 B.C. in a poem of the Warrior Queen Vishpla from India . The queen lost a leg and had a prosthetic made from iron allowing her to return to battle. The Greeks, Romans, and Egyptians were all early adapters in the prostheses field. Many examples of limb replacement are mentioned throughout history. In 484 BC Herodotus, a Greek historian documented a Persian soldier “cut off his own leg to escape imprisonment and replaced it with a wooden prosthesis”. 218 B.C. Roman General Marcus Sergius was quite a war torn general. Having 23 injuries one of which the loss of his right hand received a prostheses that allowed him to carry a shield which aided him in even more battles . Looking at old pirate cartoons, and Peter Pan’s Captain Hook give a fairly accurate image of prosthetics used during the dark ages. Pieces of wood, and iron made modified crutches for legs and hooks for hands. The items remained until the early twentieth century . In the 1800’s James Potts of London crafted a leg for the Marquess of Anglesey from wood, steel, and catgut tendons. The leg’s knee had a steel joint and the catgut tendons stretched from the knee to an articulated ankle . A story from a 1957 edition of the Saturday Evening Post tells of a young boy who had to have both of his arms amputated due to an unfortunate accident involving some power lines. After much recovery time in the hospital, 10 year old Butch was fitted with some prosthetic arms. After only two weeks of training with his new left arm Butch was ready to head back to school . In the 1950’s prosthetics were still quite cumbersome. They were heavy and lacked elements that aided in good hygiene . The Army was working to change this by creating prosthetics made from plastic, nylon webbing and aluminum which was lighter than the current traditional wood leather and steel. After the accident Butch had told his father getting him the new bike for his birthday wouldn’t be necessary . But Fuze Labs after spending six months, and the aid of 28 scientists surprised Butch with a bike of his own. This bike allowed Butch to ride just like all the other kids his age. Leg.PNG little boy.PNG old legs.PNG :: :: :: :: :: References H. H. Windsor, J. (Ed.). (1957, May). Popular Mechanics, 107''(5), p. 136. Retrieved 03 28, 2016'' Juhnke, MD, D.-L., Beck, MD, J. P., Jeyapalina, PhD, S., & Aschoff, MD, H. H. (2015). Fifteen years of experience with Integral-Leg-Prosthesis: Cohort study of artificial limb attachment system. JRRD, 52''(Number 4), 407-419. Retrieved 02 2016'' Pearse, B. (1957, January 12). Butch Has a Pair of New Arms. Acedemic Search Complete, 22-23, 78-79. Retrieved 02 2016 Thurston, A. J. (2007, December). PARE' AND PROSTHETICS: THE EARLY HISTORY OF ARTIFICIAL LIMBS''. Retrieved March 01,'' 2016, from Acedemic Search Complete. Category:Prosthetics Category:Prosthesis